On Monday night, Gossip Girl viewers were treated to a special Vanity Fair– themed cameo when Dan Humphrey and Georgina Sparks entered the (faux) office of our very own VF.com editor, Chris Rovzar. There, Rovzar capably delivered multiple lines, invoked the memory of Dominick Dunne, and, most impressively, resisted drowning in Penn Badgley’s eyes. A day after his on-camera introduction to the show’s fictionalized Upper East Side, we chatted with Rovzar about his long history with the CW series, the cast member he offended years ago, and the crime-procedural cameo he is eyeing next.

Julie Miller: It’s exciting to have an actual Gossip Girlguest star with us today!

Chris Rovzar: It was surprisingly exciting to BE a Gossip Girlguest star. I really had a lot of fun throughout the whole thing.

I understand that you’ve been studying the show for some time now. Can you talk about your history with Gossip Girl?

Yes, I can. I started recapping the show when I worked at New York Magazine, for their blog Daily Intel. Jessica Pressler and I watched the first episode because it was so New York–y and did a rundown of what was real and what was fake. It was actually pretty fun, so we kept doing it . . . for years. We also did a cover story for the magazine about the show, and hung out on set and with the cast. But this was a whole ’nother level. I feel very intertwined with the show, but the cast never remembers me when I run into them. Although once, after the magazine story, Leighton Meester told me off at a party. She said she didn’t like what we wrote, but that she guessed we have to do what we have to do “for the money.” I was like, “Oh, honey.”

That is some kind of recognition! Was there any sense of recall with Penn when you appeared on set? Did you remind him that you had hung out together?

No, I did not. He was sort of tuned out at first, although we were sitting VERY CLOSE to one another for like 30 minutes. Michelle Trachtenberg was friendlier—she’s buddies with Michael Carl, the fashion market director for V.F., so we gabbed about him. Then Penn warmed up. The thing about Penn is that he has these eyes. They’re like all pupil.

That sounds hypnotic.

And I had to start each scene staring directly into them for, like, five very slow seconds before I said my line. I felt like I was going to drown in them. He must know, because he has very strong eye contact.

I just lost myself thinking about losing myself in his eyes. What kind of preparation did you do and who helped you rehearse?

My boyfriend, who has sat with me through annoying nights of me pausing the show and asking, “IS THAT PASTIS OR BALTHAZAR??” They had me wear my own clothes and send them pictures of my real office, so they could re-construct it, which they did with careful detail. (I contributed to Pressler’s recap, so you can read about it at nymag.com. [She also appeared with Rovzar as a guest star on Monday night’s episode.])

Did you nitpick when you got to set? Point out any inconsistencies? Basically, how high maintenance of a guest star were you and what were the specific requests on your rider?

[Laughs.] Actually, amazingly, when we went on set to rehearse for the crew, the director introduced me and Jessica to all of them as the “ones who invented the reality index, the reason we say ‘plus one’ or ‘minus one’ when we look at a set or shoot.” I thought they were going to throw things at us, but instead they gave us a round of applause and then several [people] asked for free subscriptions to Vanity Fair. I was a pretty low-key guest. They make you whatever food you want, but I just had a croissant and hid in my dressing room. Pressler, who they dressed in couture, by the way, ordered an egg-white-and-spinach scramble.

To recap: you were welcomed on set with applause from the cast and received a dressing room! What kind of music did you listen to to prep for your scene?

“Payphone,” by Maroon 5, was my jam of the summer, so probably that. I should also say that Michelle Trachtenberg was pretty funny. She got Penn to laugh by doing a dramatic reading of the jacket sleeve of Skinnydipping, the novel by Bethenny Frankel that I actually do have on my real desk. And we got Penn to admit that he does know who the Real Housewives are, although he thought that Bethenny had invented a “SkinnyGirl Martini”—a concept which we all agreed doesn’t really stand up upon close examination.

You are making me really excited for the gag reel. How did you keep a straight face when Michelle Trachtenberg was delivering her line about “if you’re lucky, Dan will make you come two or three times”? I’m paraphrasing.

Well, the difficult thing was that in real life, I would have had an extreme reaction to someone saying that in my office. But the cameras weren’t on the two of them (they filmed their half later), so they were sort of mumbling the lines, for timing, so it was a little hard to “act” off of. Also there was not a ton of direction—I think probably the crew has had enough “real” people on the show to know that if the non-actors can read the lines without stumbling, they’re lucky and shouldn’t push it. So I just sort of went straight with it.

I think it paid off. Did you take anything from the set as a keepsake? (Don’t say “the experience.”)

I kept my call sheet and script, and I took pictures. More importantly, I think I retained my dignity—which was touch and go for a while.

How do you plan on furthering your acting career? Should we look out for you on any other CW shows?

I don’t really have plans to continue my career, but if they want me to appear on that new Archershow as a victim who needs CPR, I would be more than pleased to do so. It’s been my lifelong dream to be the person who, in the first three minutes of Law & Order: SVU, finds the dead body.

Well, hopefully someone from theSVUcasting office will see this. Finally, what advice do you have for aspiring Gossip Girl guest stars?

Well, here I had an unfair advantage. I should give a shout-out to the amazing Natalie Krinsky, who is a writer on the show. She is one of my oldest friends. I was her editor at the Yale Daily News. I hired her to write a sex column. She’s gone on to write for 90210and Grey’s Anatomy, and now she writes for Gossip Girl. They originally asked [V.F.editor] Graydon Carter to appear on the show, and when he (understandably!) said no, Natalie got them to ask me. But that’s not really “advice.” I’d say if you love something hard enough, as in write painstaking examinations of it weekly for years, you may just get to be a part of it. Especially if one of your college friends has an in.

That is great advice. Thanks so much for your time, Chris. Now go update your IMDb page!